Reigate Dental Centre
DATA PROTECTION CODE OF PRACTICE for patients
KEEPING YOUR RECORDS AND INFORMATION ONLINE
This practice complies with the 1998 Data Protection Act and this policy describes our procedures for ensuring that personal information about patients is processed fairly and lawfully.
What personal data do we hold?
In order to provide you with a high standard of dental care and attention, we need to hold personal information about you. This personal data comprises:
your past and current medical and dental condition; personal details such as your age, national insurance number/NHS number, address, telephone number and your general medical practitioner
radiographs, clinical photographs and study models
information about the treatment that we have provided or propose to provide and its cost
notes of conversations/incidents that might occur for which a record needs to be kept
records of consent to treatment
any correspondence relating to you with other health care professionals, for example in the hospital or community services.
INFORMATION HELD ON OUR WEBSITE:
Our website has security measures in place to protect all sensitive information held secure.
Name/s
Address
Phone
NO PAYMENT DETAILS ARE HELD ON OUR SITE.
Why do we hold information about you?
We need to keep comprehensive and accurate personal data about our patients in order to provide them with safe and appropriate dental care. We also need to process personal data about you in order to provide care under NHS arrangements and to ensure the proper management and administration of the NHS.
Retaining information
We will retain your dental records while you are a practice patient and after you cease to be a patient, for at least eleven years or for children until age 25, whichever is the longer.
Security of information
YOUR PERSONAL MEDICAL INFORMATION IS NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE/ON OUR WEBSITE. YOUR INFORMATION IS HELD ON OUR SECURE SERVER WHICH IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET.
Personal data about you is held in the REIGATE DENTAL CENTRE’S server and/or in a manual filing system. The information is not accessible to the public and it is not available online and only authorised members of staff have access to it. Our computer system has secure audit trails and we back up information routinely.
Disclosure of information
In order to provide proper and safe dental care, we may need to disclose personal information about you to:
your general medical practitioner
the hospital or community dental services
other health professionals caring for you
NHS payment authorities
the Inland Revenue
the Benefits Agency, where you are claiming exemption or remission from NHS charges
private dental schemes of which you are a member.
Disclosure will take place on a ‘need-to-know’ basis so that only those individuals/organisations who need to know in order to provide care to you and for the proper administration of Government (whose personnel are covered by strict confidentiality rules) will be given the information. Only that information that the recipient needs to know will be disclosed.
In very limited circumstances or when required by law or court order, personal data may have to be disclosed to a third party not connected with your health care. In all other situations, disclosure that is not covered by this Code of Practice will only occur when we have your specific consent.
Where possible you will be informed of these requests for disclosure.
Access
You have the right to access to the data that we hold about you and to receive a copy. Access may be obtained by making a request in writing. We will provide a copy of the record within 40 days of receipt of the request.
If you do not agree
If you do not wish personal data that we hold about you to be disclosed or used in the way that is described in this Code of Practice, please discuss it with the practice manager. You have the right to object, but this may affect our ability to provide you with dental care.
REIGATE DENTAL 2020
